The Sith Apprentice 1: Abduction
by NonSoCheNickMettere
Summary: AU set 18 years after ROTS. Leia Organa is abducted few hours before she will officially become the new Senator of Alderaan. Characters: Leia, dark Luke, Vader, Bail Organa.
1. Chapter 1

**My fiction is written just for fun and I'm not making money with it. Characters and Star Wars galaxy belong to Lucas, of course.**

**I have to thank SnipsSkywalker for the beta-reading of English translation and for fixing my poor English. I thank also DanaeMariSkywalker for some advices.**

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><p><em>I'm choking, <em>Leia thought suddenly, awaking. Dry cloth was sliding into her throat; her hands were immobilized on her breast.

She opened her eyes in the semi-darkness of her bedroom; a hooked human silhouette was on top of her.

She tossed and turned. She kicked the air. But she could only sink more and more into her pillow.

Pressure on her arms grew violent. She shouted with pain, but a stifled grunt overcame the oppressive cloth barrier inside her mouth.

A sticky tape held her cheeks from one side to the other, making the prison in which her voice was entrapped even tighter. Suddenly an unexpected relief: her arms were freed. Neither time to understand and a gloved hand held tightly her wrists together. More adhesive tape secured them in that position.

Her right arm was grabbed, and she was lifted up.

She forced herself to think, through her agitation: on the wall, near the bed head, there was the intercom. One single ring, so late in the night, would alarm all the family. Her father with servants would be there in an instant.

With all of her strength, she turned her face to the left. She pulled, pivoting on her pelvis, and rolled to a position with her belly down.

Probably taken by surprise, her aggressor did not offer enough resistance. She put her right leg between her body and the bed, her foot in the mattress, to give herself the push she needed. She stretched out her bound hands towards the intercom, almost invisible in the darkness.

A sharp jerk on her right ankle made her face to fall again on the blanket.

_Yet she was so near!_

She grabbed the sheets, as she could scramble up them. Useless; the mattress got uncovered and she continued to slip back. Now too far from that means of escape, she let the sheets go. Her hands ran fast to her cheek. In less than a second she could have removed the adhesive tape to shout for help. Faster than her, a strong grip caught her wrists and a worst one grabbed her long hair, forcing her neck to bend back.

Blocked, she used the only miserable weapon she had: she scratched her aggressor's wrist, in the small part of naked skin between the end of the sleeve and the beginning of his glove. She angrily dug into the flesh as much as she could. She felt epidermis flakes accumulated under her nails and the wet warmth of fresh blood moistened the tips of her fingers.

Pointless satisfaction! The man did not give in at all. His hold grew and, pulling her by the hair, he forced her to stand up. With one arm, he clasped her wrists and her waist tightly together.

However she struggled, having her head forced up and no chance to grab anything, Leia was not able to offer resistance to her aggressor's greater strength. She was dragged to the balcony in front of her bed. A few artificial lights broke the darkness of Alderaan's moonless night.

Constantly clasping her tightly with one arm, the man finally let her hair to go. With his free hand, he worked around some machinery, making low clangs. Suddenly his hold of her became almost protective, and her aggressor put a foot on the low banisters.

Leia started. _They were on the forty-seventh floor. He surely didn't want…_

"I'm tied, and you are not. If you struggle, you'll be the only one of us to fall. Clear?" He icily pointed out, as if he was able to feel her thoughts.

Unable to speak, she nodded.

She saw him tug the rope to check that it was well hooked, and then she felt the jump catapulting them down.

She believed she was going to faint at the sight of the emptiness underneath them. She desperately kept quiet and cooperative, hoping her fast heartbeat did not annoy the man.

But whoever he was, he was surely an expert in this kind of mission; he unrolled the rope with accurate rhythm, making their descent as smooth as that of a regular lift.

When their feet softly touched the ground, the young woman did not know if she should be relieved because the immediate deadly danger had ended, or worried about the unknown she was going to face.

A _click_ indicated her abductor had unhooked the rope.

As it was the middle of the night, the small square back the building was empty. They crossed it and went into the wood in front of it, where Leia was used to walking every morning.

It became completely dark under the green cloak of centenarian trees. The temperature was agreeably tepid: a typical Alderaan spring night. Bug's buzz was an incessant concert, sometimes animated by a nocturnal bird's lonely high, watching its possessions. Some small mammals ran away, frightened by the shapes of the two passing humans, leaving just a track of waving stems as it fled. Every now and then, a predator's howl was heard from afar.

Leia was amazed at how her abductor could take his bearings with certainty in the darkness; she herself had not been able to tell exactly where they were going. She was hardly able to keep his pace. Her bare feet ached with every step: she trod here upon a stone, there upon a thorny branch, then upon a disconnected ground. Her long nightdress rustled on the grass and tore, when it got entangled in the dense underwood shrubs.

Finally, the trees grew fewer and they could see again stars over them. Their feeble light was mirrored in the water of Lesser Lake. The white shape of a shuttle was barely visible in the small grass-land that descended to the shores.

Her abductor input the password to open the hatch. Mechanical arm puff matched the descent of entrance stairs.

Holding her tightly as in the previous walk, the man forced Leia to climb the few steps and to enter into the complete darkness of the shuttle. Without ceremony, he pushed her right.

The young woman fell on her knees and heard a sliding door closing behind her. Her hands instantly ran to her cheeks and she pulled the adhesive tape away from her face. She finally spat into the detestable handkerchief and breathed deeply.

_She had better try to be comfortable_. She gropingly found a hammock and lied down.

The floor lightly rolled and motor noise started. A wider rocking than previous one made it known to her that they had taken off: now she was wholly in her abductor's power.

Disheartened and upset, she mentally looked over the fast course of events that had caused her unexpected imprisonment a second time.

Just a half-hour earlier she had been peacefully sleeping in her bed at her home, and now she was in the hands of who knows who, who knows why, and to who knows where.

If the Force was with her, it was just an abduction for extortion. In few hours, her father would have settled everything with a full bag of money.

But the man's competence did not allow her to hope, and all this looked so much like an Imperial Secret Services' operation.

Would they really dare do this? Of course, the Organas' partiality to the Alliance was known, but in a dozen hours she would officially become the new Senator of Alderaan. As soon as she turned eighteen the month before, her father had abdicated his office pro her, so she would be protected by parliamentary immunity.

Neon switched on and she squinted at the sudden light.

She was in a small living area. In front to the hammock, there was a very plain kitchen with stool and table for fast lunches. At the right, there was a small bathroom.

The entrance door at her left opened and Leia suddenly sat up on the hammock. Her heart skipped a beat, when she recognized her abductor: Luke Skywalker, Lord Vader's son.


	2. Chapter 2

**My fiction is written just for fun and I'm not making money with it. Characters and Star Wars galaxy belong to Lucas, of course.**

**I have to thank SnipsSkywalker for the beta-reading of English translation and for fixing my poor English. ****I thank also DanaeMariSkywalker for some advices.**

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><p>Skywalker came in without a word, closed the door behind him, and went to the bathroom, to the sink. He took off his gloves and washed the scratch on his wrist. He came back to the kitchen, opened a small door and took out a drink. He turned to her and sipped with pleasure. He vaguely handed the bottle towards her and, as naturally as they were having dinner as friends, he asked, "Are you thirsty?"<p>

Astonished, Leia looked at him. "Why have you abducted me?"

He shrugged, back turned again, put the drink in its place and went back to the entrance door, walking in front the hammock, where the woman was sitting.

"Wait! Tell me why I'm here!" She ordered almost haughtily.

Without losing his composure, the young man stopped. "I guess it's clear; Lord Vader wishes to question you."

Every implication of that suddenly came in Leia's mind, but she plucked up courage and tried to infuse all dignity of her office into her answering tone. "I am a member of the Imperial Senate. His Highness the Emperor has recently assured he will defend the observance of parliamentary immunity."

"Well, you will be Senator exactly in twelve hours," Skywalker pointed out without hostility.

"I could denounce you anyway," She threated with more certainty than she felt.

The young man shrugged again. "It isn't up to me to discuss Lord Vader's orders."

She was fighting a wall of indifference. "Why does he want to question me?"

He shook his head, left, and closed the door behind him.

With a sob Leia fell onto the hammock once more and buried her face in her hands, trying not to burst into tears. She had heard so many rumors about Vader's interrogations! She had ever considered herself brave and above everything devoted to the cause. But now… now she was not so sure anymore, and she was afraid she would soon know where her breaking point was. Could she really endure _everything_? The distressful thought tormented her. Hundred lives and some basic military secrets depended on her strength, but suddenly she was not sure she had enough of it. She knew well that the dark Sith Lord showed no mercy, did not waste time in arguing or bargaining.

And his son?

Skywalker surely led a more out-of-the-way life than his father. He was said to be being trained as Sith apprentice and his lightsaber, always hanging at his belt, was a clear evidence to this supposition.

She thought at the few times she had seen him in some public ceremonies. He had hardly uttered a word, passing his time in a secluded spot at attention, a more military bearing than an _Executor_ officer's, a more inexpressive look than his father's black mask. When some court girl, more induced by her parents' ambition than by the young man's attraction, had tried to do with him, he had instantly dismissed her with a wampa's tact.

There's no denying it; Lord Vader had raised an heir that would be his worthy successor. And, to guarantee the success of this new risky move of his, he had just used his son. No, she could not imagine to succeed in buying off Skywalker.

She was seized with anguish, but she forced herself to take some deep breaths to calm down. She could image her father's worry look, when in few hours he would find that she had been abducted. Would he guess the offender? And then what, if he did? Knowing him, he would set up a so wide remonstrance at the Senate that the Emperor himself would have to take the care to have her set free.

_If only Bail would understood soon! It was near to her immunity… less than twelve hours…_

She examined her prison more carefully. She recognized that model of shuttle: it was in fashion among young people on Aldaaran. Clearly Skywalker had wanted to be sure that the transport went unnoticed.

Last month, Theodore Ruft had went on and on, trying to make her admire his new purchase, boasting a lot about how comfortable the small living area was, how big the air-chamber was and how easy was its maintenance… _thanks to an inner entry!_

Leia stood up, forgetting any fear that could distract her. She did not know exactly where they were flying to, but if they got an air leak, they would surely be compelled to a forced landing.

_She had to sabotage the shuttle._

She began to look around. She rummaged in the big drawer under the hammock, but she found nothing but some carefully folded tunics. Then she turned her attention to the wall units close by, but she was not able to open them; her bound hands made it impossible.

She turned to the kitchen. To left there were three drawers. She opened the upper one, conveniently at the height of her waist, and she found the knives. As was to be expected, they were plastic and not sharp, but they should be enough to cut through the adhesive tape. She picked one up and, with some difficulty, managed to turn it to serrate the tape. It was more resistant than she had foreseen. She got nervous and tried harder. The knife fell. Leia watched the main door, but nothing happened. It had been a dim noise to be heard from the cockpit.

She bowed to recollect it and sat down on the hammock to try with more patience. Little by little the tape began to rip by the methodic friction of the blade. Finally, she felt she had reached the breaking point and opened her wrists.

"At last!" The young woman muttered, pulling away the sticky residue from her wrists, red stripped from the tape being there so long.

She stood up and tried again to force the wall units over the bed, but they stubbornly kept closed. They clearly contained just the tools she needed, if Skywalker had bothered to lock them up.

She went in the bathroom, rummaging into the drawer under the sink. Among some towels, soap and a hair brush, she found a nail-file. Not much, but it had to suffice as screwdriver.

Over the sink, a large bathroom exhaust fan aired the room. She tried to push the nearby button and, like she had foreseen, the inner fan turned off. Stretching on her tiptoes, she unscrewed the two lower screws of the lattice protection, but she was too short for the upper ones.

She fast looked at the arrangement of sanitary fittings in the tiny room. The kitchen stool could hardly fit between the toilet and the sink.

She clenched the nail-file between her teeth, and helped herself to keep balance by setting her hands on the wall and putting her feet on the slippery edge of the toilet bowl. She carefully turned towards the lattice and struggled to maintain balanced position, supported by just her left hand. Then, she took the nail-file with her right hand again and slowly unscrewed the upper screws.

When at last she was able to unhook the second one, she leaned forward in order to avoid the loud fall of the lattice and softly lowered it into the sink. A bit fearfully, she put an arm between the vanes of the motionless fan. She touched the intake inner, finding out it wasn't an air-chamber, but just a very narrow way, that went left, according to what she could guess.

Disappointed, she got down from the toilet and went back in the room. The opening for the air-chamber had to be there, because there the bathroom intake led.

_But where?_

She examined the small free space between the kitchen wall units and the table, but she could not find a border indicating an opening. She moved the stool to near the furniture, when she felt a light breeze on her bare feet. She stooped under the table and saw another lattice, big enough for a crouched man to fit in. She started her work again with the nail-file and this time she was much faster, thanks to the more comfortable position. Then, she softly unhooked the lattice and crawled into the opening on all-fours.

There the air-chamber, just like it was described!

_After all, when this bad business ended, she would accord Theodore for that date he annoyingly carried on._

She carefully stood up inside the narrow corridor, not to bump her head against the network of pipes and cables. She searched each spot, slowly going on. She walked forward the few meters, surveying every piston and valve. If only she had been more diligent at school during mechanics lessons, now she would have known what the gearing to exhaust air outside would look like. At the end of the small chamber, a small opening was on the right and, on the top, she saw a valve on what seemed to be an hole to outside.

_Was what she was searching for?_

There was only one way to know. Holding her breath, she could slip into the small opening. She scrutinized the object more closely; next the cylindrical body, there were some buttons. She had seen something like that on her school pad. She unsuccessfully tried to remember the explanation. She thought it was just the device for air recharge.

She stretched an arm among pipes and cables to touch the release button, but her hand begin to tremble from her indecision. One single error in a sabotage could be fatal. Was the right thing to do?

_Would you rather be tortured?_, She asked herself and pushed the button.

A small hole opened in the valve center, causing a violent air eddy with a deafening whistle. She had underestimated the force of a depressurization in the empty space. The stream made the shuttle rotate on its axis too fast to be counterbalanced by artificial gravity. Caught in the small opening, she escaped to fall from one side to the other, but nevertheless her weight got concentrated now on a flank, now on her feet, now on her head.

Confused, she was not able to do anything, until a loud clang suddenly stopped the wind. The shuttle settled in a straight path.

Wishing just to exit that trap, she threw out in the narrow corridor of the air-chamber. She looked again up to the valve: now it was closed and a red warning light was flashing. But there was no noise of an alarm, so it had not automatically tripped; Skywalker had intervened with commands of cockpit. Suddenly she understood he would soon come to check the problem. A mental flash of both lattices unscrewed minimized her hope to hide that she was responsible for the damage.

Terrified, she ran the few meters from the opening to the room. She was going to stoop and come back in the living area, when her abductor's enraged face sprang out.


	3. Chapter 3

**My fiction is written just for fun and I'm not making money with it. Characters and Star Wars galaxy belong to Lucas, of course.**

**I have to thank SnipsSkywalker for the beta-reading of English translation and for fixing my poor English. I thank also DanaeMariSkywalker for some advices.**

* * *

><p>Leia shouted for surprise and, in panic, stepped backwards.<p>

Skywalker stood up in front of her. In his icy eyes there was nothing but rage.

The Princess' back was now against the wall, she could go nowhere.

On the instant, he was on her, grabbed her throat and bumped her head against the wall.

Chocked by the hold, she was not even able to cry and powerlessly looked at him.

Perhaps pleased by terror in her eyes, the young Sith loosened his hold enough for her to be able to breathe.

"Don't fool yourself that something will change," he declared menacingly. Then, he grabbed her hair with the other hand and forced her into the living area. Finally he let her go and she quickly sought refuge somewhere.

Watching her carefully, Skywalker neared the hammock, input a password on the keyboard next the wall units and opened one of them. It was the tool container, just as Leia had supposed: meager consolation!

The young man rummaged inside. Then, holding a couple of handcuff tied to a short rope, he neared to Leia, still paralyzed by fear. Tugging her without ceremony, he forced her to turn to the wall and handcuffed her hands behind her back.

"I was well warned to never trust women," he remarked, pulling the rope in order to force to go on the hammock, where he tied her at the head bed bars. Then, he went back to rummage among tools in the wall units.

"What would you have done in my position?" she asked.

He stopped, holding a screwdriver and stared at her without answering. Leia kept his glance, until he lowered his eyes, turned back and went to screw the two lattices. When he finished, he put the screwdriver into its place, went out without casting her a single glance and closed the door. Just an instant and the light turned off. _Very good!_

After a vague time, for to Leia it could be an hour or even a half-day, the shuttle rocked atypically. They were landing. She could not tell where. Had they reached the rendezvous with Vader?

Light turned on, the door opened and Luke appeared. He untied the rope from the hammock, took the end and, going out the room, forced her to follow.

The hatch opened.

A gush of fresh air from a wide grass-land flowed.

Leia sighed with relief. Her small exploit worked after all. They had been forced to make an emergency landing. Maybe there was still hope.

Probably feeling her relief, Skywalker turned to her, pointing a menacingly finger: "I bring you out with me only to guard you. You had better not try any other tricks."

They went down the few steps and walked around the shuttle. Luke unhooked some machineries on the transport exterior and opened a wicket. He took out a sort of screwdriver for hexagonal head screws and a ladder he hooked to the structure.

He went on the top of shuttle, forcing Leia, who was still handcuffed in her back, to follow very difficultly. He surely walked until a steel cylinder. He pushed the rope, the Princess was tied with, and nodded her to place in front of him.

She did not offer resistance and sat down to look her abductor who, bowed, unscrewed the cylinder. She left him to his work and watched the landscape.

A yellow sun pleasantly warmed the unknown planet up and a breeze softly blew the wild grass, that follow a slight slope. No animals were seen, although in the rustle of land a symphony was performed by hundreds of small inhabitants. At the end of the descent, there was a stony area that -from her view- seemed to shape many caves and natural shelters. _Interesting_.

No evidence of sentient beings wherever she looked. Were they on an uninhabited planet or just in an isolated place?

She turned her attention back to Skywalker, who had pulled out part of the cylinder and had opened the lock. Leia understood it was the tampered air valve. They were filling up to resume their journey.

"You couldn't have let out a lot of air. We'll be in time," he noted.

"Then you should very proud of your work," she disdainfully answered.

He kept silent.

"Nice work, indeed: abducting, torturing, killing,…" she went on polemically.

"No one likes doing that," he stopped her abruptly, "but it's the only way to keep order in the Empire."

"Oh, indeed, I've forgotten; order!" she replied. "How is it? The end justifies the means."

"Right and clear," he concluded.

"Republic existed for twenty-five thousand years without this evidence," she pointed out.

"Spare me your speech. Was there no corruption in the Old Republic? No unfairness?"

"Some Senators and officers' mistakes and misuses; everything and everyone couldn't be controlled…" she defended passionately.

"Now, we can." his voice was sure.

"With terror, abuse of army power and… of the Force," the Princess added, letting leak out her disgust of being in front of a Sith apprentice.

Skywalker stopped his work and, rising his glance to her face, looked in her eyes. "Didn't the Jedi do the same?"

In spite the passion she always used to defend her reasons, Leia got prudent: there was nothing more dangerous in the new Imperial Galaxy than defending the Jedi Order. "At least, they didn't go around abducting people," she answered at the end.

Skywalker shook his head. "They did too. When I was born, they let my father believe I was dead, but instead I had been kidnapped by a Jedi."

_Unbelievable the point Imperial propaganda could arrive!_, the scandalized Princess thought.

But Luke went on surely: "My father found me I was three years old yet. The Jedi had given me in adoption to a family of poor farmers."

Leia got upset: was it possible?_ Yes, it was_, she had to admit to herself. _What kind of person should ever leave a baby into Vader's hands?_ "Probably the Jedi wanted just to spare you this destiny."

"Did he want to spare me an important status in the Empire?" he asked ironically.

"To become a Sith," she corrected.

"To develop my gifts," he said.

"To live in the hate and loneliness," she did not want to let go.

"This is nothing comparing to the power of the Dark Side of the Force," Luke declared.

But it seemed to Leia just the repetition of a well learned lesson than a firm belief. "Oh, sure!" She laughed at him, "I can easy image how fair living in Lord Vader's home is!"

Suddenly, although almost imperceptibly, something broke in the inexpressive apathy of Luke's eyes. The young Sith lowered his glance, closed back the valve cover and begin to screw nervously it. One turn, two, three…

To Leia's unskilled eyes it seemed to be fixed, but Luke was not satisfied and kept pushing the screwdriver to force the cylinder that remained stubbornly stationary. Enraged, he left the rope of the handcuff.

Leia did not hesitate an instant: she suddenly and forcefully pushed herself forwards, using her lower back muscles, in order to slide from the rounded top of the shuttle and prepare at the impact with the ground, three meters down. She managed not to lose wholly balance and ran as fast as she could to the stony area, without turning around, although she heard Skywalker's steps behind her.

She threw herself on the stones by the strength of her desperation, ignoring the pain of her bare feet on pebbles and the danger of falling with her hands tied behind her back. She had a the lead of few seconds to her abductor and she wanted to use them at best.

She saw a dark cavern near her and threw herself inside.

Skywalker jumped down where she had been, and stopped doubtfully.

Leia held her breath, hoping to hear his steps go away. But a feeling, she had never experienced before, made her shudder, as if a cold presence had grazed her. Then she heard Luke coming towards her. She suddenly remembered some odd stories about how Sith could feel a person's presence also without seeing him. The hope they were just fairy tales to scare children faded as his way grew precise to her.

Her sweat poured down his back and she tried to put order in the turmoil of her thoughts, when a violent hold painfully surrounded her arms and pulled her back. As she was lifted up, her eyes were dazzled by the sudden return to the light.

A monstrous cry deafened her.


	4. Chapter 4

**My fiction is written just for fun and I'm not making money with it. Characters and Star Wars galaxy belong to Lucas, of course.**

**I have to thank SnipsSkywalker for the beta-reading of English translation and for fixing my poor English. I thank also DanaeMariSkywalker for some advices.**

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><p>Leia shouted at the sight of the monstrous creature that had grabbed her and of the huge mouth nearing. She could feel the reptile's warm breath blowing from a line of solid sharp canines.<p>

Suddenly she was released. Collapsing on pebbles was very hard: her ankles creaked, spraining, and she fell down on her knees. Aching, with her hands tied back, she dragged herself in the dust, trying a poor escape, with the only strength of the survival instinct.

Now the beast cried almost as it were in anguish, but it did not seem interested at its prey anymore.

The princess turned and lifted up her glance to understand the reason had changed its mind.

The reptile's tail had been cut off by Skywalker's lightsaber. The creature widely shook its stump, that hit violently the young Sith at flank, making him to roll for some meters. Then it turned angrily towards its aggressor.

Luke stood fast up and put on guard, waiting unnaturally quiet for the nearing beast. When distance between them was short, the Sith jumped a portentous height. He sank his red blade in the reptile's throat and, keeping it firmly into the huge body, let himself fall down, in order to create a long, deep tear down its front. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he ran in the opposite way, passing between the monstrous legs, to avoid being crushed by monster's mass that was collapsing ahead.

A last desperate cry of agony and the ground shook from impact. A dust cloud rose, so wide that it made Leia to cough over and over, in spite of the fact that she had been able to drag herself some distance.

Skywalker sighed with relief, only then betraying the anxiety for struggle. He switched off his lightsaber, hooked it to his belt and went to get the Princess back.

She had been able to hardly stand up, but the bad condition of her ankles didn't allow her to try a new escape. She waited for the nearing young man.

She had never seen the use of a lightsaber before and, in spite of legendary tales about Jedi she had heard, that live display had been, to put it mildly, impressive. No one, even among the most skillful of rebels, could face such power. She was torn between admiration and fear for Skywalker, not being able to get to the bottom of the opposite feelings. When he grabbed her arm, she felt again a prisoner with an uncertain fate ahead, but at the very moment she knew to be quite safe, at least in the immediate future. Her abductor had just ventured his life to safe her._ Had she judged him too superficially?_

They resumed their journey.

When motors of ship were at speed, Luke came back in the living area, where he had again tied Leia at the hammock.

He took out a box with tools for first aid from one of the kitchen unit. He collected a bacta bottle and some gauzes. He pulled up his black tunic on the left flank and carefully disinfected the abrasion the reptile had caused hitting him with its stamp.

Put back his dusty tunic and sat on the bed, just near the Princess, and pulled up her nightdress hem, grabbing one of her legs.

Frightened, she pulled herself back.

"Don't worry! I want just to treat your knees," he assured, wetting a new gauze with disinfectant.

Leia blushed and stretched her leg again. But, as soon as the dressing touched her scratches, she started: it was absolute bacta!

"You are used just to methylated bacta, aren't you?" Skywalker observed, showing signs of a shy smile.

"If it is usually softened, there must be a reason," she remonstrated for fun.

Luke bent to rummage inside the drawer under the hammock.

It was the first time the Princess saw an amused look in his face: the quiet appearance of very ordinary boy opposed strongly the general idea of a Sith apprentice.

"Thank you for before," she said to him, really grateful.

He fell serious again, lifted his glance upwards, and looked at her as he could see deep inside her, making her feel uncomfortable.

"Let leave it at that: you're wasting time," he declared and his attention went back the drawer.

"Am I wasting time to thank you for saving my life?" she asked, confused.

"To think this means something," he icily pointed out, standing up with a grey tunic in his hand. "I was ordered to deliver you alive. If you had been eaten, I would have failed my mission".

"I don't think it was just that," she refuted.

The young man turned with no comment and went in the bathroom. When he came back, he wore the clean tunic, in spite the black one. He neared her and, with a very dry professional tone, warned her: "In few hours, we'll arrive at rendezvous with Darth Vader. For your own sake, I suggest you to forget any illusions and be as cooperative as you can. He gets always what he wants, some way… or other."

Leia saw more deeply than the implied threat. "You don't agree what he does," She declared, almost challenging him to deny.

"It isn't important what I agree on or what I don't," he replied uncomfortably, "I must obey. That is all."

"You're aware that what you do is bad," she noted amazedly, not understanding how he could always act against his own conscience.

Luke's unease silence was broken by the comm ring. "The cryptic line," the young man muttered to himself. He pushed some buttons between the wall units, to transfer the call on living area speaking phone. He declared loudly to microphone. "It's Skywalker here. I'm on line"

"Luke, where are you?" Vader's unmistakable voice thundered.

Although the call was just vocal, the young man sprang to attention. "I had a setback," he answered, nervously vague. "I'm a bit late"

"I see you are late and I am not interested in your excuses," his father cut him drily, "When will you be here?"

"In three hours," was the hesitated answer.

"That's too late," The Sith Lord judged.

Skywalker crossed his arms and lowered his glance. "Two hours will be left."

"Not much time for interrogation," Vader noted, plainly annoyed, "I have not trained you to fail."

A _blip_ meant the abrupt close of conversation, delivering Luke from the duty of a proper answer. He was petrified, his eyes still turned to the ground. Fear was clear on his face.

Leia had no doubts her sabotage would be paid for highly by the young Sith. She would have almost pitied him, if the stake hadn't been her own life.

Suddenly she saw him step angrily in front of her. She was terrified: no one had ever looked at her with so much hate before. She prepared for begging mercy.

But Luke went out and closed the door, turning off the light.

The Princess sighed, relaxing a bit.

Once her father had told her an ancient Jedi teaching: _fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate_. Just now she really understood the meaning. Skywalker secretly disapproved of Imperial regime's violence. He did not nourish his lust for power. He was just the scared prisoner of an iron control. He was pitiless because he was hopeless.

Left there alone, in silence and in the dark, Leia couldn't have a sense of time.

If they really reached their destination in the three hours Luke had planned, she could not tell. Surely when she heard the typical clangs of a landing inside a hangar, it seemed to her they had flown for ages. But ages had passed too fast.

The light turned on. Never looking in her face, Luke went in, and untied her.

"Let's go." He ordered. He turned to exit, waiting for her.

_Here we are_, Leia thought. Her heart beat fast. She set herself dignity and stood up back to the young Sith, without being asked twice. A few steps and they were in front of hatch. She neared more to him and, stretching ahead till almost to touch his neck back with her lips, she murmured him, "You don't ever look at your victims' faces when you deliver them to the torturer, do you?"

Skywalker did not give hint he had heard, and pushed the opening button.

Like in her worst nightmares, they were in a starflight hangar and, waiting for them, there was a platoon led by Lord Vader.

They went down with straight steps.

Luke bowed to his father, showing reverence with a "My Lord." If he had lowered his head a little more, he would have touched the ground with his forehead.

Sickened, Leia stood with dignity some steps behind him.

Vader dismissed fast his son, just ordering him, "Go in your quarters. I will take care of your delay later" He turned his whole attention on his prey.

The Princess recollected all her strengths. "Lord Vader, this time you dared too much. I am a member of Imperial Senate, abducted from my own home…"

"You will be a member of Imperial Senate in two hours," Vader cut her off, pointing a threatening finger at her. "There is enough time to discuss of your illegal activities"

"I don't know what you are talking about," she remonstrated.

"We will see," the Sith answered drily. Then, to the platoon; "Take her away".

Leia felt her guts tighten in fear: it was like the whole Alliance's destiny was on her shoulders. Now everything depended on her strengths.

_Two hours, just two hours_, she repeated to herself.

The longest two hours of her life.


	5. Chapter 5

**My fiction is written just for fun and I'm not making money with it. Characters and Star Wars galaxy belong to Lucas, of course.**

**I have to thank SnipsSkywalker for the beta-reading of English translation and for fixing my poor English. I thank also DanaeMariSkywalker for some advices.**

* * *

><p>The first thing Leia was aware of was the uncontrolled trembling of her lips. Then she understood it came from below that: it was her rigid neck that was quivering without stop. She hardly opened her eyes, but the strong light wounded her. She blinked to focus on a dark silhouette near her.<p>

Her mind was confused. She did not know well why, but the man with the metal voice asked something and she had to deny.

"I know nothing," she sobbed.

"Ssh! It's all over." The silhouette had changed voice.

The Princess tried hard to see him better: he wasn't all black this time. He wore grey dresses and he had features of a young man she had seen. She was sure of that, but she could not recognize him. Her mind was a big database, the folds were all mixed down on the ground. She was an employee who was on all fours rummaging, in a desperate search for right documents. At last she could grabbed something useful._ Luke. Luke Skywalker._

_But who was Luke Skywalker?_ She mentally opened his file: _Lord Vader's son._

Every bit came into place: Luke Skywalker had abducted her to deliver her to Vader.

"Interrogation is over," he confirmed.

_Interrogation? _Yes, now she remembered. And she remembered torture as well: drugs that flew in veins, metal voice's questions more and more pressing , her trying to deny, the feeling of impotence, the pain growing, and growing, with no apparent limit…

It was too much! She curled in fetal position and burying her head in her arms, beginning to sob. She closed her eyes, but she could still see the Sith's black silhouette, who impassively ordered to dose more.

The weeping effort took away even the very little strength that she had and she calmed down from mere weakness. When last tears left her eyes, slipping slowly on her burning cheeks, she saw Luke was quietly watching her, sitting on a armchair in front of her.

He handed her a glass with water. "Drink. You are dehydrated."

Just at those words, was Leia aware of how dry her lips were. She sat up ever-so-slightly, so that she was able to lift the cup to her lips. Her trembling hand let half of the contents fall on the sofa she was lying. She could only drink a sip, and handed the glass back to the young Sith, letting herself fall the pillows again.

Even though it had been little, that water seemed to be portentous, because she was feeling better now. Or maybe the drug effects were fading.

"I don't look their face before, because I'm forced to watch them after," Luke declared.

"Uh?" Leia grunted, too confused to understand he was talking about. But she was becoming lucid-minded enough to ask herself a pressing question; had she told anything? As much as she thought, she remembered nothing. "Am I going to be set free?"

Skywalker shrugged: "Now you are Senator, but I was told nothing about that"

Leia sat up, and saw they were in a sort of conference room. Not being in a cell made her hope.

Without notice, the sliding door opened and Lord Vader came in.

Both Luke and Leia stood fast up, turning to him.

The Princess' temples were beating at her torturer's presence. But this was time to negotiate over her freedom. She put aside any feelings and turned all her thought to negotiating her release.

"Lord Vader, in my capacity of Alderaan Senator I am illegally detained." She looked for more courage and, hoping the Force was with her, she dared. "You interrogated me for hours with no reason or results. Now I require immediate release."

In the room, the only thing heard was the artificial breathing. A fortune-teller would be needed to know what the Sith was thinking under his black mask, but he did not deny that the interrogation had been useless. So, in spite everything else, Leia felt better; any fate she would face, she had not betrayed.

The com rang. Lord Vader pointed a finger to the control panel on the wall and the lever for switching on the screen went up.

An high officer appeared on the screen: "My Lord," he spoke to the Sith, "Three ships of the Alderaan Royal House have reached us and contacted us. The Viceroy Bail Organa has asked to speak with you immediately."

Vader nodded to Luke, who immobilized the Princess, so she could not utter a single word. Then he answered the officer; "All right. Only transfer the vocal line."

"Yes, my Lord", the man answered, right before he disappeared from the screen.

A rustle indicated the call transfer. "Lord Vader, here." the Sith declared.

"I am the Viceroy Bail Organa of Alderaan." His voice sounded warmly in the room; it seemed to Leia years she had not heard him. "My daughter, Senator since five hours, was abducted this night in her house on Alderaan."

"I am sorry," the Sith answered impassively, "But it would be more useful if you report it to your National Guard."

"I did," Bail confirmed, "and recollected tracks bring to a person of your very narrow entourage."

Suddenly Vader turned to Luke. "What are you insinuating?" he asked on suspiciously.

"Nothing," Bail went on, "I just ask to come and speak you privately…"

"Do you want to come and search _my_ ship?" the Sith darkly implied.

"Just avoid actions that you will regret in the future," was the vague answer.

"Do you dare threaten me?" Vader sounded angry and incredulous, and the Princess feared for her father's safety.

"No, of course. But I could know information you do not."

The Sith hesitated. Surely he was thinking the same thing Leia was: Bail was open to exchange information about Alliance for his daughter? _Otherwise, what other information could be interesting?_

The artificial breathing lasted seconds. "I agree," Vader said finally. "In an hour in the main hangar. You are allowed to be escorted by delegation you prefer… ten people at most. You will soon see that there is no one here but my crew."

"Anyway, I am sure it will be a profitable meeting for both of us," Organa answered with affected courtesy.

A new rustle and line was off.

"If I had assigned a Gungan this mission, it would have worked out better," Vader rebuked his son, who blushed in shame. "Kill her," he went on, "and dispose of her corpse. You do not have much time."


	6. Chapter 6

**My fiction is written just for fun and I'm not making money with it. Characters and Star Wars galaxy belong to Lucas, of course.**

**I have to thank SnipsSkywalker for the beta-reading of English translation and for fixing my poor English. I thank also DanaeMariSkywalker for some advices.**

* * *

><p>Leia felt as though the ground had opened up beneath her feet at this sudden turn of events. She opened her mouth to remonstrate, but she was unexpectedly anticipated.<p>

"I can't. It's illegal", Luke objected.

The Princess was not the only one surprised by the unusual rebellion. Vader was suddenly on his son and grabbed his arms with a mighty hold.

But the younger man's reaction appeared to be exaggerated. His face twisted in a grimace, in order not to moan.

"Do you dare to challenge my orders?" the Sith asked threateningly. To better underline the words, he increased pressure. One second, two, three… he let all needed time to pass for Luke experiencing pain at fully. "Go," he ordered at last.

"Yes, my Lord," the young man nodded feebly with stifled voice.

Satisfied, Vader left him.

On both Skywalker's sleeves, wide blood stains had appeared, where the black gloves had grabbed him. The hold could in no way be the cause of them: obviously beneath his tunic there were fresh wounds. Leia bet they were strictly related to their delay.

The young Sith led her out the conference room.

Silently the two walked starflight corridors to a suitable place for execution.

The Princess could not believe yet she was going to die. When Vader had allowed her father to come on the _Executor_, she had felt free yet. Then even the chosen executioner had tried to intercede for mercy.

She looked at Luke, but she could not find his glance, far and absent.

"You can't do that," she begged, "I know you haven't had choice till now, but things could change"

No answer or hint… nothing.

"You can set me free and I can set you free," she pressed on, more desperate, "I know where you can seek refuge."

Skywalker went on, but this time his fleeting sigh meant he had heard.

They passed under a low passage. The young Sith abruptly stopped and furtively watched the corners of corridor in front of them.

The Princess inquiringly looked at him.

"This spot is blind from guard cameras," he answered the unspoken question. Then he lowered his tone even more. "Do you really know where I could take refuge?"

She nodded. "Galaxy is wide," she pointed out obviously, "And your father isn't omnipotent"

On the second matter, Skywalker seemed not to be so sure.

"Has he ever been able to find the Rebels' bases?" Leia pressed, underlining Lord Vader's greatest failure.

Indecision was clear on his face. "If he catches me, I'm a dead man," he bit his lip, "…and in the worst way."

"Do you prefer living like this?" she nodded to his blood drenched sleeves. She neared more, looking into his eyes till he was forced to cross her glance. Her tone softened: "Luke, I know you are not like him. Don't refuse this hope."

The young Sith's eyes filled with tears: he turned them away with shame. He nodded. "All right, we can," he quickly thought of a plan. "Not far from here, there's an evacuation area"

"A pod hasn't any defense," Leia objected.

"It doesn't matter," he said surely, "My father knows he has passed any limits. If we can jump, he will not dare to shoot us in front of Viceroy. Let's go. We have wasted too much time even now," he urged, turning in the opposite direction.

Leia followed him. They passed two corridors in fast steps, but without running. They met no one.

Then Luke turned right and they entered a small posting. Two troopers were guarding the access. The higher rank one took a step to them.

"Sir?", he asked more puzzled than hostile.

Without bothering to answer, Skywalker unhooked his lightsaber, switching it on, and pierced the man in his chest. Then suddenly he turned it round to his mate, cutting him in half, before he could even touch his blaster.

"Why?" Leia shouted, scandalized to the useless violence. "It wasn't necessary: they didn't want to shoot us!"

"They were going to waste our time," Luke answered coldly, bowing to take the first victim's blaster.

"Now they will all be against us," the Princess objected.

"That won't be the cause", Luke shrugged, handing her the weapon. He rose and input his password to enter the area.

The door opened and they walked into long corridor. At first bend, a burst of laser fire came. Luke switched his saber on to parry the shots.

A new burst came from behind. Leia turned to guard the rear with her blaster.

Resistance was few and they easily overcame it. They went on until they reached a new door.

"Here we are!" Luke cried, as he input his password.

"Are we in the evacuation area?" the Princess asked hopefully.

"We are," he confirmed, sure about what he was saying, yet puzzled.

"But…?"

"We met little resistance", he answered. "The worst must be after this door"

The sliding door opened. Just ten meters in front of them, there was a line of pods.

Between freedom and them, Darth Vader was waiting with his red saber ignited.

Without wasting a second, Leia pointed her blaster at Vader. But her weapon flew from her hands, as if it was pulled by a mysterious force and, waving in the air, reached the Sith Lord, who cut it in two parts. Its pieces tinkled falling on the ground.

Astonished, the Princess turned to Luke. Looking disapprovingly at her, he nodded to stay behind.

Skywalker switched his saber on, and carefully walked ahead on guard, his eyes set firmly on the black mask.

Vader brought his sword on guard, calm as well. The points of their lightsabers frizzed as they touched.

"What do you think you can gain?" he asked his son.

"I want the freedom to follow what is right," Luke answered surely.

"You can have no freedom, because you are mine," the Sith Lord cut him off.

"No," the young man denied aggressively and attacked. He rose brought his red blade upwards, then suddenly lowered it again, trying to cut the central welded line of his father's helmet.

Without being surprised, Vader rose his own sword, intercepting the other one falling on his head. Blades crossed loudly, annihilating the energy of each other, and both of them slipped lower, hilt against hilt. Father and son stood very near.

Pushing his hilt slightly to the left, Luke tried to break his opponent's guard. But this last one, with longer experience and stronger body, just rounded his stance a few degrees. He gained back a perfect central guard forcing his son suddenly to fit his own.

Trying alternatively to break and to cover the guard, the two opponents begin to move from the middle of the hangar.

With Vader's attention taken, Leia saw a free path. She ran to the other side, passing at Skywalker's back, and entered into the first pod she neared. She would have been able to escape, but how she could leave Luke? He had kept his word. Now it was her moment to risk and wait. _They were just few meters: if he had been able to disengage!_

But the young man's attention was wholly taken by the wearing preservation of guard. The least inattention would have been fatal against an opponent, who was growing aggressive.

"You know the power of the Dark Side," Vader hissed threateningly, "You must obey your Master."

"I don't want to live in the Dark Side," Luke spat defiantly.

That made the Sith Lord really angry. "Young fool," he furiously apostrophized him, "Now you are going to understand." He burst a cry of anger and violently pushed his son's hilt, making him fall back.

Without support, Luke tried a miserable defense, striking randomly from high to low.

Ready and faster than him, his father moved up, cutting him to his right flank, just under his ribs. He opened a long wound and he would have easily cut him in two parts, if he had not decided to pardon him, switching his saber off, after it had penetrated just about ten centimeters into the flesh.

Skywalker's heartbreaking yell echoed though hangar, followed by the noise of his turned off sword, falling on the ground, before flying into the winner's hand. The young man fell on his knees and clasped his flanks with his arms, unsuccessfully trying to soothe the pain. Gasping in order not to moan, he looked up to the black mask that impassively watched him.

"Did you really think you can best who taught you?" his father was verbally pitiless on him.

Leia waited for Luke to show he could rise, without purpose. Instead she saw Vader turn his attention to her and near her. She pulled back in the pod. Without hesitation, she pushed the unhooking button. The hatch hermetically closed and clangs resounded in the tiny space. She felt the wavering that meant independent course. Now she could just hope Skywalker had been right to choose that way of escape.

From the port hole, she saw _Executor_ shape went back and _Tantive IV_, like a protective white wing, coming on her. She was rescued into the hangar and a sudden violent acceleration meant they achieved hyperspace.

She opened the hatch and exited the safety pod. Her father was coming. She ran to him and she threw herself into his arms, sobbing: "Dad, dad"

Bail held her on his chest and stroked her hair. "I know it was terrifying. But fear no more. Now you are safe."

But Leia also cried for Luke, facing his destiny alone.


	7. Epilogue

**My fiction is written just for fun and I'm not making money with it. Characters and Star Wars galaxy belong to Lucas, of course.**

**I have to thank SnipsSkywalker for the beta-reading of English translation and for fixing my poor English. I thank also DanaeMariSkywalker for some advices.**

* * *

><p>Leia walked with Bail in the Senate access corridor.<p>

It was a month since those dreadful hours on the _Executor_. Although from physical point of view she was all right, she could not say the same for her mood. Nights were full of nightmares and the metal voice did not want to leave her mind.

Then Luke's matter distressed her too. She had carefully tried to get information about his state, but no one seemed to have seen him anymore. Leia could not help but wonder about his fate.

She was well aware she had been able to do nothing after he had been wounded so badly. But she was oppressed by a sense of guilt anyway, for that promise of freedom never kept.

She was shaken from her thoughts, when she saw Lord Vader coming from the opposite way. It was the first time Leia had been in his presence since her ordeal. She nervously tensed. She felt Bail's protective arm resting on her shoulder. It could not really be a defense against the Sith Lord's power, but she felt reassured anyway and relaxed a bit.

By his side, Vader appeared determined to ignore them and go straight to his path. But, when he was nearest them, it was clear, back his imposing shape, there was his son's smaller one.

"Luke!" Leia murmured for surprise, without really thinking.

The young man give no evidence he had heard. But Vader suddenly changed his path and, standing in front of them, pointed a threatening finger to the Princess. "Do not dare to utter a word to my son anymore, or no immunity can save you from consequences," he thundered.

"Lord Vader," Bail intervened, "I am sure that won't happen again, but you cannot menace a Senator in the corridors of Senate itself."

"Soon a mere institutional office will not protect betrayers like you anymore," the Sith threatened.

"But till that day you must observe the law," the Viceroy answered with the usual composure.

The loud metal breath sounded a couple of times. Then Vader turned and went back his path, followed by his son, who, during the dialogue, had never cast a glance to the Organas.

When they disappeared from the sight, Leia noted sighing: "Well, at least, Luke is all right. I thought he killed him."

"I don't guess he would ever be able to do that", Bail explained, "Vader feels for Luke the nearest thing to love a Sith can."

"Love?" she incredulously repeated. Then, she asked a question she was thinking since a month: "How did you understand he was the abductor?"

"By DNA test of some epidermis flakes we found in your room," Bail answered.

_The scratch in his wrist_, Leia remembered. But that could not be enough. "Have you his DNA sequence?" she went on puzzled.

"Not his, but a very near relative's."

Leia opened her eyes wide and lowered her voice conspiratorially: "Vader?"

Her father snickered, shaking his head to deny. Then his eyes suddenly grew melancholic. "No. Another's."

_Another one? _ She had never heard Luke had other relatives in the Galaxy, although that odd tales of his kidnapping by a Jedi came into her mind. "Who?"

Bail looked intensely at her. Indecision. "No, you do not really want to know," he declared at last.

Leia nodded. Trusting him, she was sure her father had probably just picked the wiser choice. She would not press. Yet she could not help but wonder.

* * *

><p><strong>That's all folks!<strong>

**This plot came into my mind as short adventure, but it is obviously open to a sequel. So, if you are asking, yes, I've planned it and I'm writing it yet. But I'm usually very slow in writing, so I don't really know when I will be able to publish it.**


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